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Subcommittee reviews House Bill 5 priorities, staff seeks bundling guidance and threshold change
Summary
The subcommittee reviewed prioritized major repair and capital projects in House Bill 5, with Department of Administration staff asking legislators to consider bundling and to raise the single-project major-repair threshold (from '150' to '300' as cited). No votes were taken; the committee will forward recommendations to the full committee.
The House subcommittee reviewed House Bill 5 on statewide capital development and major repair priorities and spent the morning hearing detailed presentations from Department of Administration staff about project rankings, statutory requirements and implementation challenges.
Russ Katherman, administrator for the Architecture and Engineering Division, told members the law requires projects be listed by building, purpose and estimated cost and pointed to the statute he cited in the record when explaining the division’s organization of the submission. Katherman said the administration is open to "bundling" projects if the legislature provides clear sideboards or prioritization instructions to aid implementation.
Randy Stevens, planning manager, walked the committee through the major repair priorities the division recommends. He described MR01 — a life-safety package for Montana Hall — as the top priority at Montana State University and said the campus system submitted dozens of projects ("MSU submitted 23 major repair projects; University of Montana and affiliated campuses submitted 20"). Stevens said MR01 would add a fire suppression system, fire alarms and egress lighting to an older structure that currently lacks suppression.
Committee members pressed for implementation details. One legislator asked whether the city of Bozeman had issued a building permit and what the permit fee had been; staff confirmed permits are obtained for such projects and agreed to report back on the fee. Representative Vinton asked Stephens to explain "non-construction" line items on projects (furniture, professional services, temporary relocation, fire watch). Stevens said non-construction costs can include engineering and professional services (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, geotech), bonding and permitting, and possible temporary relocation or fire-watch costs during construction.
Stevens reviewed a range of other prioritized items in the packet, including door-access completion work, ventilation and accessibility upgrades at Missoula West, additional exterior security cameras at a Lewistown nursing facility, campus heating-plant and boiler upgrades, roofing replacements, and elevator upgrades for multi-story buildings. For several projects staff said they had recently received favorable bids and, in one case, recommended bidding now because of a temporary window of lower material costs.
Katherman also described language in the bill intended to raise the reporting threshold for single projects that must be listed on the division’s submission: committee materials show a request to raise the limit cited in the book from "150" to "300" for certain categories, which staff said would exclude smaller projects from the major-repair list and keep the focus on larger investments. He told legislators that clearer legislative prioritization (for example, identifying which of several similar storage buildings to proceed with first) would substantially help implementation and project management.
Committee members asked follow-ups about assessment timing and why larger appropriations allocated in prior sessions sometimes remain unspent for a period while design work and prioritization continue. Stevens said some large-institution work is being sequenced due to contractor availability and compliance-driven priorities.
There were no formal votes in the subcommittee during the session. Representative Fitzpatrick explained the subcommittee’s role as a screening body: it will make recommendations and amendments that go to the full committee for further action or revision. The subcommittee closed consideration of House Bill 5 and will forward its recommendation to the full committee.
Next steps: staff committed to provide follow-up details requested by members (permit fee amounts, square footage for a historic pathway, and scope clarifications for boilers and other items). The subcommittee made no final appropriations or recorded votes on House Bill 5 during this hearing.
